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After wakeup, Anton Shkaplerov performed the routine inspection of the SM (Service Module) PSS Caution & Warning panel as part of regular Daily Morning Inspection.

Also during the morning inspection, Anatoly Ivanishin conducted the periodic checkup of the circuit breakers & fuses in the MRM1 Rassvet and MRM2 Poisk modules. [The monthly checkup in DC1, MRM1 & MRM2 looks at AZS circuit breakers on the BVP Amp Switch Panel (they should all be On) and the LEDs (light-emitting diodes) of 14 fuses in fuse panels BPP-30 &BPP-36. MRM2 & MRM1 were derived from the DC1 concept and are very similar to it.]

CDR Burbank, FE-1 Shkaplerov & FE-2 Ivanishin joined in conducting the regular weekly three-hour task of thorough cleaning of their home, including COL (Columbus Orbital Laboratory) and Kibo JPM (JEM Pressurized Module). ["Uborka", usually done on Saturdays, includes removal of food waste products, cleaning of compartments with vacuum cleaner, damp cleaning of the SM (Service Module) dining table, other frequently touched surfaces and surfaces where trash is collected, as well as the sleep stations with a standard cleaning solution; also, fan screens and grilles are cleaned to avoid temperature rises. Special cleaning is also done every 90 days on the HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) bacteria filters in the Lab. Since this was the last scheduled round of Housekeeping for Exp-29, Mike & Satoshi paid special attention to some safeguarding issues to ensure a good configuration in the unlikely event of station decrewing (failure of 28S crew arriving): Flammable materials securely stowed away from UOPs (Utility Outlet Panels), Rack Power Outlets, and Power Strips, no loose items that could become free-floaters during nominal dynamic events, ventilation diffusers clear of stowage, and HEPA filters vacuum-cleaned.]

As part of Uborka house cleaning, Anton & Anatoly completed regular weekly maintenance inspection & cleaning of fan screens in the FGB (TsV2) plus Group B2 and Group E fan grilles in the SM (VPkhO, FS5, FS6, VP). Before the cleaning, all fan screens were photographed for ground inspection.

Later, the CDR filled out his 3rd weekly FFQ (Food Frequency Questionnaire) on the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer).[On the FFQs, USOS astronauts keep a personalized log of their nutritional intake over time on special MEC software. Recorded are the amounts consumed during the past week of such food items as beverages, cereals, grains, eggs, breads, snacks, sweets, fruit, beans, soup, vegetables, dairy, fish, meat, chicken, sauces & spreads, and vitamins. The FFQ is performed once a week to estimate nutrient intake from the previous week and to give recommendations to ground specialists that help maintain optimal crew health. Weekly estimation has been verified to be reliable enough that nutrients do not need to be tracked daily.]

Dan also completed the standard 30-day inspection of the AED (Automated External Defibrillator) in the CHeCS (Crew Health Care Systems) rack. [AED is a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses the potentially life threatening cardiac arrhythmias of ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia in a patient. It then can treat them through defibrillation, i.e., the application of electrical therapy which stops the arrhythmia, allowing the heart to re-establish an effective rhythm.]

Anatoly performed the routine daily servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM. [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers, replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers and filling EDV-SV, KOV (for Elektron), EDV-ZV & EDV on RP flow regulator.]The CDR completed the reloading of the CSL (Crew Support LAN) Server started earlier (with a replaced Ethernet cable) and configured the 5 available CSL laptops to use DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol). Afterwards, depending on time permitting, Dan also was to upgrade the CSL Clients to the new SWRDFSH2 (Swordfish-2) software to allow uplink of crew requested personal software. [DHCP is a network protocol that enables a server to automatically assign an IP (Internet Protocol) address to a computer from a defined range of numbers (i.e., a scope) configured for a given network. DHCP assigns an IP address when a system is started.]

Afterwards, Dan performed his first session with the MedOps psychological evaluation experiment WinSCAT (Spaceflight Cognitive Assessment Tool for Windows), logging in on the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) laptop and going through the psychological evaluation exercise on the PC-based WinSCAT application. [WinSCAT is a monthly time-constrained questionnaire test of cognitive abilities, routinely performed by astronauts aboard the ISS every 30 days before or after the PHS (periodic health status) test or on special CDR's, crewmembers or flight surgeons request. The test uses cognitive subtests that measure sustained concentration, verbal working memory, attention, short-term memory, spatial processing, and math skills. The five cognitive subtests are Coding Memory - Learning, Continuous Processing Task (CPT), Match to Sample, Mathematics, and Coding Delayed Recall. These WinSCAT subtests are the same as those used during NASA’s long-duration bed rest studies.]

At ~8:05am, the three crewmembers held the regular WPC (Weekly Planning Conference) with the ground, discussing next week's "Look-Ahead Plan" (prepared jointly by MCC-H and TsUP-Moscow timeline planners), via S-band/audio, reviewing upcoming activities and any concerns about future on-orbit events.

At ~10:30am, Ivanishin & Shkaplerov joined for a Russian PAO downlink, extending messages of greetings to three events: (1) to schoolchildren’s questions as part of the “Ask A Cosmonaut” initiative, conducted by International Association of Space Activity participants and GCTC (Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center), (2) to the participants of the Russian Artwork Competition “Space through the Eyes of Youth”, organized by GCTC, IBMP, and the Voronezh Nikolay Nilovich Burdenko State Medical Academy, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Y. A. Gagarin’s flight to space (an expert jury will select the best drawings from the entire body of artwork to create a basis for traveling exhibition), and (3) to I. I. Sukhorukov, respected as a remarkable human being and gifted educator, on his 70th birthday. [Questions from schoolchildren answered were: 1. (from Switzerland) Can cosmonauts take their personal things and favorite food with them to space? What are the requirements for such things? In general, how do people eat in space? Does the food provided to you have a good taste?; 2. (from Sofia) Does weightlessness trigger any dysfunctions in human body? If yes, then what are they? Are they benign for human health? 3. (from Barcelona) Dear cosmonauts, We are very interested to know if one can get sick in space: catch cold, pickup virus, etc. Can pathogens or microbes reproduce up there? How do cosmonauts get treatment in space?]

A ~30-min. run of the GFI-8 "Uragan" (hurricane) earth-imaging program with the NIKON D3X digital camera with Sigma AF 300-800mm telelens, aiming for Hudson Volcano, Chile, the glaciers of Patagonia and Volcano Cordon-Kaul,

A 10-min. photography session for the DZZ-13 “Seiner” ocean observation program, obtaining HDV (Z1) camcorder footage of color bloom patterns in the waters of the South-Eastern Pacific, then copying the images to the RSK-1 laptop,

Two video recordings of New Year Greetings, one for the Sevastopol TV channel for the Sevastopol residents and the other for the Rossia-24 TV Channel. Footages were then to be downlinked to TsUP-Moscow, and

Another ~30-min. session for Russia's EKON Environmental Safety Agency, making observations and taking KPT-3 aerial photography of environmental conditions on Earth using the NIKON D3X camera with the RSK-1 laptop.

Weekly Science Update (Expedition Thirty -- Week 13) 2D NANO Template (JAXA): On 12/13, Dan started the experiment and stowed samples into MELFI1/Dewar4 to begin arranging peptides on base plates slowly. The samples will be returned by 28S. “Thank you for your comprehensive operation.”

3D SPACE: Complete.

AgCam (Agricultural Camera): No report.

ALTCRISS (Alteino Long Term monitoring of Cosmic Rays on the ISS): Complete.

ALTEA SHIELD (NASA/ASI): On 12/4 around 2:00pm EST, ALTEA stopped transmitting health & status data. POIC took the action to start the recovery activity already planned for this event, as per payload regulation, but the DAU power recycle did not solve the problem. A total of ~112 cumulative days of science acquisition have been acquired at the last location in the US Lab, so the minimum science requirement of 20 cumulative days of science acquisition has already been met a long time ago. At the moment the instrument is OFF.

AMS-02 (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer): AMS Payload and Laptop operations are nominal. The AMS main data computer required several resets, as documented by PAR AMS software 11. This is being investigated. The January 2012 high negative beta thermal mitigation plan for AMS is being reviewed.

BCAT-6 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test 6): No report. [Colloids are particles as small as a few tens of nanometers (a thousandth of a thousandth of a millimeter) that are suspended in a medium, usually a liquid or a gas. The name “colloid” comes from the Greek word for “glue”, and expresses very important properties of colloids: when small and light enough, particles can be influenced in their behavior by forces of electromagnetic origin, and make them stick together, or repel each other depending on the configuration. Colloids are widely studied in science because the forces between particles can be controlled and tuned and because particles, while being small enough to be influenced by such forces, are big and slow enough to be seen with a relatively simple and inexpensive laboratory instrument like a microscope. This is why colloids are often studied as model for molecular systems (like standard gases or liquids) where molecules, the individual constituents, are much smaller than colloids and cannot be seen with light. As mentioned, forces between colloids can be tuned giving rise to a rich variety of phenomena. One of them is aggregation, which is when particles stick together and tend to form structures. Among the many ways to induce particle aggregation, one allows to do so by controlling the temperature of the solution in which the particles are immersed, thanks to very weak forces called “critical Casimir forces” that have been predicted more than 30 years ago but just partially verified in experiments. The objective of SODI COLLOID is to measure such forces and produce a controlled aggregation of tiny plastic particles. This would allow to shed light on critical Casimir forces and to make a step towards the fabrication of new nanostructured materials with remarkable optical properties for industrial applications.]

CIR (Combustion Integrated Rack), MDCA/Flex: “Dan: Nice job replacing a CIR Manifold Bottle on 12/9 and 12/14. You are definitely in a groove with both CIR and FIR crew tasks! On 12/9, you installed a bottle containing a gas mixture that supported FLEX test points on 12/13. On 12//14, you installed a bottle that will allow us to start FLEX-2 test points (following the MDCA hardware reconfiguration currently scheduled next week).” Late last week and early this week, CIR/MDCA performed five test points from the science matrix at three different chamber atmospheres. We have moved on to "diluent-replacement tests" with heptane fuel since (1) we are out of methanol fuel, and (2) we found the Flammability Boundary for heptane with helium diluted in pre-EVA ambient environments. After starting these diluent-replacement tests, we ran out of heptane. FLEX test points will be suspended until more methanol and heptane arrive on ISS. During the MDCA hardware reconfiguration scheduled for next week, you will install fuel reservoirs that contain FLEX-2 fuels. We are exciting about starting FLEX-2 test points!

ERB-2 (Erasmus Recording Binocular, ESA): [ERB-2 aims are to develop narrated video material for various PR & educational products & events, including a 3D interior station view.] “Dear Dan, thank you for activating the camera to support the files transfer to EDR. We confirm that all the video footages taken by Mike have been successfully downlinked.”

ETD (Eye Tracking Device): Completed.

FACET-2 (JAXA): No report.

FERULATE (JAXA): No report.

FIR/LMM/CVB (Fluids Integrated Rack / Light Microscopy Module / Constrained Vapor Bubble): “On 12/12, you installed another PACE Tissue Sample for us to examine under the LMM Microscope. You are getting fast at changing out PACE samples! Also, you've successfully gotten the technique for dispensing oil as we were able to obtain oil immersion images. This sample's test run included locating and imaging each of the tissue samples with the different LMM Microscope lenses. We used the LMM 100x and 63x Oil Lenses to image with oil. We took images of a leaf, a fly and a letter from the alphabet.”

Fish Scales (JAXA): Completed on FD7/ULF-4 and returned on STS-132.

FOAM STABILITY (ESA): No report.

FOCUS: No report.

FSL (Fluid Science Laboratory, ESA): No report.

FWED (Flywheel Exercise Device, ESA): No report.

GENARA-A (Gravity Regulated Genes in Arabidopsis A/ESA): No report.

GEOFLOW-2 (ESA): This week, 3 science runs (one No-Rotation run and two Low-Rotation runs) have been performed, all making use of the “high working environment” temperature set-point. During the No-Rotation run, one (out of 25) temperature set-point has been skipped by the Experiment Container PID control (minor science impact). Some MVIS error messages have been encountered during the last two runs. All the MVIS and science images have been downlinked and are being analyzed. [Background: Everybody is familiar with liquids. In an average day we get to use, handle or drink water or other liquids. And everybody knows how fluids (that is liquids and gases) behave: when subjected to a net force, may be pressure, a temperature difference or gravity, they can move freely. Scientists have been studying how fluids move for centuries, and managed to write mathematical formulas that can describe and predict such movements. Unfortunately, these equations are extremely complex and only approximate solutions are known. As a result, our quantitative understanding of fluid movement is just partial. This is especially true for natural phenomena where the forces can be enormous and unpredictable, like in oceans or in the atmosphere. Or the interior of the earth, where rocks are exposed to pressures and temperatures so incredibly high that they slowly move and adapt their shape. That is, over hundreds of years rocks flow just like a very viscous liquid. Scientists try to study such flows but cannot observe them directly due to the fact that they take place deep beneath the surface of our planet. The only way is to have computers simulating those movements starting from the equations, but how to check whether computers are correct? This is what Geoflow II is trying to answer on board the International Space Station. Geoflow II is a miniature planet that has some of its essential ingredients: a fluid can freely move inside a spherical container that rotates, has temperature differences and has a simulated gravity directed towards the centre just like in a real planet. By taking pictures of the fluid movements, scientists are able to understand the essential characteristics of the flows and determine whether computer simulations are correct or whether they need to be refined and improved towards a better understanding of the elusive movements that take place inside our planet.]

HAIR (JAXA): No report.

HDTV System (JAXA): No report.

Hicari (JAXA): We completed GHF (Gradient Heating Furnace) Experiment checkout on 12/13. The level of vacuum at the GHF Material Processor (MP) will be kept 0.1Pa until the Hicari checkout currently scheduled for 12/17.

Holter ECG (JAXA): No report.

HQPC (JAXA): Was delivered by 34P.

HREP (HICO/Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean & RAIDS/Remote Atmospheric & Ionospheric Detection System/JAXA): HICO has taken 4674 images to-date. The most recent HICO images include the mouth of the Amazon River, the coast of Chile and Barrow Island in Australia. RAIDS is collecting secondary Science data including nighttime atmospheric disk photometry, spectra and temperatures. Extreme Ultra Violet airglow spectroscopy and optical contamination studies will also be performed.

IMMUNO (Neuroendocrine & Immune Responses in Humans During & After Long Term Stay at ISS): Complete.

INTEGRATED IMMUNE: No report.

InSPACE-2 (Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions 2): No report.

IRIS (Image Reversal in Space, CSA): No report.

ISS Amateur/Ham Radio: “Dan, great job with the ISS Ham pass with students from Kobe, Japan. You were able to able to answer 20 questions during the pass. That brings the number of contacts to 19 for Inc 29/30, 2 for the Expedition 30 crew, and a total of 121 for 2011. This total count for 2011 ties the record set back in 2009! Your next planned ham radio event will be with students in Rome, Italy.”

ISSAC (ISS Agricultural Camera, NASA): No report.

IV Gen (Intravenous Fluids Generation): No report.

JOURNALS (Behavioral Issues Associated with Isolation and Confinement, NASA): “Dan we appreciate your commitment to the Journals experiment. The PI is looking forward to reading your entries when the data is downlinked on 12/19. Thanks for your support!” [Studies conducted on Earth have shown that analyzing the content of journals and diaries is an effective method for identifying the issues that are most important to a person. The method is based on the reasonable assumption that the frequency that an issue or category of issues is mentioned in a journal reflects the importance of that issue or category to the writer. The tone of each entry (positive, negative, or neutral) and phase of the expedition also are variables of interest. Study results will lead to recommendations for the design of equipment, facilities, procedures, and training to help sustain behavioral adjustment and performance during long-duration space expeditions to the ISS, asteroids, the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Results from this study could help to improve the behavioral performance of people living and working under a variety of conditions here on Earth.]

MDCA/Flex-2: “Dan, nice job replacing the CIR Manifold Bottle on 12/7. You installed a bottle containing a gas mixture that supported FLEX test points for 12/8. The bottle you installed should be the last one in bubble wrap not marked with the correct serial number. Our procedure update to mark the bubble wrap with the correct serial number was in place for all the other bottles that are still on orbit.” Late last week and early this week, CIR/MDCA performed six test points from the science matrix at two different chamber atmospheres. We found the Flammability Boundary for heptane fuel with helium diluted in pre-EVA ambient environments. We are still searching for the Flammability Boundary for methanol fuel, but we ran out of methanol fuel after two test points on 12/5.

MISSE-8 (Materials ISS Experiment 8): The external payload MISSE-8 is operating nominally but the Communication Interface Board (CIB) has experienced a couple of resets this past week. MISSE-8 is investigating potential correlations of CIB resets to active MISSE-8 experiments and sub-experiments along with the beta angle when these occur. PASCAL has been analyzing the solar cell performance data and sun angle simulations to determine how to proceed with the experiment. The SpaceCube experiment is running code for new radiation hardening by software. MMA (JAXA/Microgravity Measurement Apparatus): No report. MPAC/SEED (JAXA): No report. MSG-SAME (Microgravity Science Glovebox-Smoke Aerosol Measurement Experiment): No report.

SODI-DSC (Selectable Optical Diagnostics Instrument/Diffusion & Soret Coefficient, ESA): The science runs have been continued throughout the last weekend and this week. On 12/12, the teams on ground have discovered from the downlinked images that an air/gas bubble had appeared in the Experimental Cell #1. Two causes have been investigated: rupture of an internal membrane of the volume compensation system, or leak of the cell itself. After discussions, the cell leak case is considered extremely unlikely, but this unfortunate anomaly has led to the postponement of the planned Flash Disk exchange (FD#3 <=> FD#4) on 12/13. Without the Flash Disk exchange, it has not been possible to perform additional science runs since 12/13, as there was not enough free space on the installed disk. But the “forced” science stand-down time was made use of to perform some engineering tests to better characterize the current DSC image quality problems. Overall, since 11/27 to date, 34 science runs (out of a total of 55 runs) have been performed. The science team has analyzed 32 runs, and unfortunately several runs are impacted by issues of images quality (to various extend, 12 runs are impacted and 8 of them are proposed to be performed again). Given the Experimental Cell#1 anomaly, we will not process this cell anymore, and we are left with 4 Experimental Cells to investigate. The sequence of runs for the next coming weeks is now being re-adjusted by the Operations team.

SOLAR (Solar Monitoring Observatory, ESA): Since 12/6, the platform is out of Sun Visibility Window. SolACES has been put in warmed up mode to protect for optical degradation during the reboost tests on 11/30 and on 12/9. It was kept in this mode until 12/13. The next SVW#48 is predicted to start around 12/15.

SPHINX (SPaceflight of Huvec: an Integrated eXperiment, ESA): No report.

SPICE (Smoke Point In Co-flow Experiment): No report.

SPINAL (Spinal Elongation): No report.

SPRINT: No report.

SS-HDTV (Super Sensitivity High Definition Camera, JAXA): No more runs planned on Task List for Satoshi.

STP-H3 (Space Test Program – Houston 3): MHTEX is currently running in a steady state mode. Canary collected data from the reboost on 12/9. VADER is continuing lifetime testing of the VEDs at a reduced cycle rate. DISC has taken more images this week and is processing images that were taken in previous weeks.

SWAB (Characterization of Microorganisms & Allergens in Spacecraft): No report.

TREADMILL KINEMATICS: “Dan, thank you very much for completing your first Treadmill Kinematics session!”

TRIPLELUX-B (ESA): No report.

ULTRASOUND: Planned.

UMS (Urine Monitoring System (NASA): No report.

VASCULAR (CSA): “No report.

VCAM (Vehicle Cabin Atmosphere Module, NASA): No report.

VESSEL ID System (ESA): Nominal measurements with the NORAIS receiver were performed.

VESSEL IMAGING (ESA): No report. [It is known that the ability of blood vessels to vasoconstrict - the ability of the muscular vessel wall to narrow the diameter of the blood vessel - is impaired during and after a human has been in space. "Vessel Imaging" is using the Ultrasound scanner on board the ISS to take images of the five different blood vessels in the lower abdomen and in the legs to study what changes occur to cause the blood vessels to be less able to vasoconstrict. For each vessel, a 5 second scan is performed to observe the blood vessel during several heart beats, followed by a scan where the ultrasound scan-head is tilted to allow a "cut through the blood vessel wall". The same scans are also performed before flight, and these pre-flight images are used as the baseline to which the in-flight data is compared with. The images are analyzed to detect any changes in the blood vessel wall properties, such as wall thickness, elasticity or structure, changes in the size of the blood vessel or blood flow (volume) while the crewmember is in orbit.]

WAICO #1/#2 (Waving and Coiling of Arabidopsis Roots at Different g-levels; ESA): No report.

YEAST B (ESA): No report.

CEO (Crew Earth Observation): No report.

CEO target uplinked for today was St. Paul Rocks islets, Brazil (HMS Beagle Site: Darwin and the Beagle briefly visited this isolated, equatorial Atlantic site in early February of 1832. This tiny group of islets and rocks is also known as the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago. The islands are of particular interest to geologists as they expose rocks associated with the Earth's mantle above sea level. Looking just left of track for the islands as ISS approached the area from the SW. With mid-afternoon light and a few clouds, the crew should have been able to photograph all of them in a mapping pass).